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Detroit – Ford Motor You will participate Tesla On charging initiatives for its current and future electric cars In an unusual relationship between competitors, CEOs of automakers announced Thursday.
Under the agreement, existing Ford owners will be given access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the United States and Canada, starting early next year, via the use of an adapter. And Ford’s next generation of electric cars — expected by the middle of the decade — will include a Tesla charging plug, allowing Ford owners to charge in a Tesla Supercharger without an adapter, making Ford among the first automakers to explicitly connect it to the grid.
The initiatives were announced by Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Elon Musk during a live audio discussion on Twitter Spaces. It comes as Ford is trying to ramp up production of its all-electric cars in a bid to catch up or one day surpass Tesla’s sales in that segment.
While Tesla still dominates the electric vehicle segment by far, Ford ranked second in all-electric vehicle sales in the United States last year, with 61,575 electric vehicle sales.
Farley said the company is “fully committed” to a single US charging protocol that includes Tesla’s connectivity port, known as NACS. It’s unclear if next-generation Ford vehicles will retain the charging ports found on current models, known as CCS. A Ford spokesperson said the company has “that option available to us but has no news to share today.”
A separate Ford spokesperson told CNBC that freight pricing “will be market competitive.” The two companies will reveal more details as the expected launch date approaches in 2024.
Tesla previously discussed opening up its own network to other electric vehicles. White House officials announced in February that Tesla committed to opening 7,500 of its charging stations by the end of 2024 to drivers who don’t use Tesla EVs. Previously, the company’s chargers in the United States were mostly used by and manufactured to be compatible with Tesla’s electric cars.
In Tesla shareholder in the first quarter deckThe company revealed that it has approximately 45,000 Supercharger connectors worldwide at 4,947 Supercharger stations. The company does not disclose chargers by country or revenue from the devices. It includes revenue from its supercharging stations under the Services and Others section.
The Twitter Spaces event between Farley and Musk on Thursday marks the latest interaction between the two executives, who have a unique rivalry. Both have expressed admiration for the other, even though their companies are in direct competition.
Ford notably beat Tesla in the pickup segment, as production of its F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its ever-popular pickup truck, began production in April 2022. Ford also heavily tested the Tesla Model Y for its Mustang Mach-E crossover. Tesla followed suit in price of electric crossover parts.
But Musk, who leads Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, has repeatedly praised Ford as a historic American company, praising its ability to avoid bankruptcy, unlike its crosstown rivals. general motors and Chrysler during the Great Recession.
Such compliment was prevalent during Thursday’s call: “Working with Elon and his team, I’m really excited about our industry and Ford’s customers,” Farley said. Musk later responded with sentiment: “It’s such an honor to work with a great company like Ford,” he said.
Farley prodded Musk a bit, asking about the long-delayed new version of the company’s first car, the Roadster. Musk teased an update for the Roadster in the fall of 2017. He promised 620 miles of range per charge and three engines, among other features.
Today, we repeat Thursday, the new version of the Roadster isn’t fully designed yet.
Earlier Thursday, Farley praised Tesla on its charging network during a Morgan Stanley conference, saying that while Ford has created its own charging products for its commercial customers, automakers should consider collaborating on charging infrastructure for the general public.
“It seems absolutely ridiculous that we have an infrastructure problem, and we can’t even agree on which plug to use,” Farley said, noting that Tesla’s charging plug is different from those used by other automakers. “I think the first step is to work together in a way that we haven’t, perhaps with new electric vehicle brands and traditional vehicle companies.”
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